Why Generic Product Recommendations Don’t Work (And How to Fix Them in WooCommerce)

Think about the last time you shopped online and saw a “Recommended for you” section that made you scratch your head. Perhaps you were browsing kids’ shoes, but the site suggested a bunch of unrelated electronics or adult clothing. It’s confusing and a little frustrating, right?

Many WooCommerce store owners (and eCommerce retailers in general) struggle with this exact issue. They rely on generic product recommendations, the same suggestions shown to every visitor, and hope that something sticks.

Spoiler alert: it usually doesn’t.

In this article, we’ll explore why these one-size-fits-all product recommendations fail to engage shoppers or boost sales, and how you can fix this problem in your WooCommerce store.

Generic product recommendations are those broad, non-personalized suggestions that treat every shopper the same. Sure, they’re easy to set up (WooCommerce’s default Related Products feature is a good example. It might just show items from the same category for everyone).

But this convenience comes at a cost. Because they aren’t tailored to individual shopper behavior or interests, these recommendations often fall flat. In fact, a one-size-fits-all approach usually results in a bland experience that fails to connect with shoppers on a personal level. The site isn’t leveraging anything it knows about the customer; it’s essentially guessing.

Customers tend to ignore or even get annoyed by these irrelevant suggestions. Instead of sparking curiosity (“Oh, that looks interesting!”), Generic recommendations can come across as noise on the page. They miss out on opportunities to engage the customer and drive additional sales. Shoppers might scroll right past the recommendation widget, or worse, feel that the store doesn’t understand them at all.

Displaying the wrong products to the wrong person doesn’t just fail to get a click – it can drive people away. When a site’s recommendations consistently miss the mark, users may begin to doubt the store’s ability to help them find what they want. This can lead to several negative outcomes for your WooCommerce store:

• Lost Conversion Opportunities: Every irrelevant recommendation is a missed chance to suggest something that would interest the shopper. If a customer tunes out your recommendations, you lose the possibility of an upsell or cross-sell then and there. In a worst-case scenario, the customer might not find anything compelling and leave without buying anything at all.
  
• Higher Bounce Rates: When visitors feel a site is not showing them what they need, they’re more likely to leave (or “bounce”).
  
• Customer Frustration: Over time, irrelevant recommendations can erode customer goodwill. It’s frustrating to be shown products that have no apparent connection to your needs or tastes.

It’s worth digging a bit deeper into why these generic approaches perform so poorly. The core issue is a lack of relevance. Shoppers have come to expect a certain level of personalization in their online experiences.

We live in an era where Amazon, Netflix, and other big players have trained consumers to anticipate that the content or products shown to them will align with their interests. When your WooCommerce store shows everyone the same list of “hot items” or a static set of related products, it’s likely missing the context of what each customer actually wants.

Modern consumers want to be treated like individuals, not faceless entries. Rather than seeing generic, random items, they’re more likely to make a purchase when the products presented feel hand-picked for their needs.

Another reason generic recommendations don’t work is that they ignore user intent. For example, if Jane is searching for a gift for a toddler, showing her the top-selling kitchen gadget isn’t tapping into her intent at all. It doesn’t matter if that kitchen gadget is a best-seller in general; it’s not relevant to her. Without considering each user’s intent and context, recommendations become disconnected from the shopper’s journey.

If generic recommendations are the villain of this story, personalization is the hero. The opposite of a one-size-fits-all approach is one tailored to each shopper. Instead of guessing what might interest a customer, you use data and smart strategies to show products that align with that customer’s intent and preferences. Done right, this makes shoppers feel understood and vastly increases the chances they’ll engage with the recommendations (and add more items to their cart).

Personalization isn’t just a buzzword; it has proven benefits. Shoppers reward businesses that cater to their interests – nearly 78% of customers are more likely to repeat purchases from brands that offer a personalized experience.

Factors to Consider When Showing Personalized Recommendations

Below are the factors to consider when showing personalized product recommendations to users.

• User Intent: Consider what the shopper is trying to do. Are they searching for something specific? Browsing a particular category? The words they search and the pages they view reveal intent. For instance, a user who types “winter boots” into your site’s search bar has a clear intent – your recommendations can reflect that (show them winter boots or related accessories, not generic shoes or sandals).
  
• Browsing Behavior: What products and categories has this person looked at? If a visitor has spent the last 10 minutes browsing kids’ shoes, it’s a safe bet they’re interested in children’s footwear or apparel. You’d want to recommend products in those categories.

Tracking browsing history gives you valuable signals. WooCommerce doesn’t do this by default, but with the right plugin or custom code, you can capture “recently viewed” items or categories and use that to inform recommendations.

• Purchase History: If the shopper is a returning customer, their past orders are a goldmine of preference data. You wouldn’t want to recommend the exact same item they already bought (that’s a common mistake of generic recommendation systems)

Instead, you can suggest complementary products or new arrivals in a category they’ve shown interest in. For example, if a customer bought a DSLR camera from your store, a personalized system might later recommend camera lenses or a tripod, rather than another camera.

• Cart (Current Context): The contents of a shopper’s cart can guide on-the-fly recommendations. This is great for cross-selling. If a customer just added an iPhone to their cart, that’s the perfect time to show a recommendation widget with phone cases, screen protectors, or AirPods – items that go well with the phone. Because these suggestions directly relate to what’s in the cart, the customer is more likely to find them relevant and helpful.
  
• Real-Time Context & Page: Tailor the recommendations to where the shopper is on your site. On the homepage, you might showcase personalized “picks for you” based on their past browsing or purchase categories. On a product page, show related or similar items to the one being viewed

On the cart or checkout page, present last-minute add-ons related to the cart contents. The idea is to integrate recommendations seamlessly into the shopping journey – they should feel like helpful suggestions at just the right moment.

WebToffee WooCommerce Product Recommendations plugin is the best personalized recommendation engine for WooCommerce stores. It is designed to help WooCommerce store owners show Amazon-like recommendations on their websites.

This product recommendations plugin uses advanced algorithms to show relevant and personalized product recommendations to your customers. You can set up different types of recommendation campaigns on your online store.

The available recommendations include, but are not limited to, upsells, cross-sells, best sellers, top-rated, frequently bought together, new arrivals, recently viewed, and other custom recommendations.

Beyond just listing products, the WebToffee plugin lets you build rule-based campaigns, so you have complete control over what gets shown and to whom. For instance, you can create a rule to show products from the same category or with similar tags as the one the customer is viewing. This ensures that recommendations feel relevant instead of random.

You can place recommendation widgets on the homepage, product pages, cart pages, or even tailor different recommendations for different pages. Whether you want a product slider below your product description or a “You may also like” section in the cart, the plugin makes it easy to slot recommendations wherever they’ll have the most impact.

All these features help transform your WooCommerce store from offering generic product suggestions to delivering truly personalized recommendations that feel relevant and helpful.

Generic product recommendations might seem like a quick solution, but they rarely deliver the engagement or sales that store owners hope for. In fact, they often do more harm than good, leaving customers feeling unseen and pushing them toward the exit button instead of the checkout.

The good news is, you don’t have to settle for bland, one-size-fits-all suggestions. By tapping into personalization, using insights like browsing behavior, purchase history, and real-time context, you can transform product recommendations into a powerful tool that genuinely helps customers discover products they’ll love.

So take a fresh look at your store’s recommendation sections. Are they truly helping your customers? Or are they just taking up space? Start experimenting with personalized strategies today, and watch your store become not just another WooCommerce site, but a place where customers feel understood and eager to shop.